Amp for Grado 325i

I am looking to buy Grado 325is, I primarily listen to metal; to name a few bands - Lamb of God, Slayer, Pantera, Metallica, Led Zep, etc.

My budget for the amp is arnd $200. I will be listening off my laptop, .flac files mostly. I was looking at the Total Bithead from Headroom, and since I am going to be using my laptop, i was thinking the DAC in the bithead would be useful.

For me there is no doubt. I just discovered the NuForce uDAC at a meet in Berlin two weeks ago. Its synergy with the SR325 was fantastic and I went home from the meet and bought one immediately. The price is only 129 USD and I think it could easily be worth more than that. I used to have the Bithead (in fact it was the very first headphone amplifier I bought) and it is nowhere nearly as good as the uDAC. The uDAC has a DAC and an amplifier and its small size fits a laptop.

I started researching on the NuForce uDac, and have been reading mixed reviews. Most say its a very good deal for its price. One of the comments on Head-fi goes

"I bought the $99 NuForce uDac for work and I'm sending it back. I'm using Grado SR-325i headphones and although I hear some little tonal differences, on my computer at work the NuForce does not give me any more detail or soundstage or give any more "life" to the music than I can get through the headphone output directly rather than through the DAC".

Is the DAC in uDac better than the one in Total Bithead?

The one for 129 USD is the uDac 2 right?

Also, I was wondering if the NuForce is right for my genre, metal. I have been assured the grado 325is are one of the best for metal.

That has to be someone listening to 128 / 256 kbps music files saying that there is no life nor extra details in the music with 325. If you use low resolution music files you will get low resolution results. But I am just guessing - some people might hear things differently.

I am also just guessing here. But the Total BitHead is a 5-6 year old product and the uDAC-2 is completely new and just released. So I am guessing that the technology inside is better as it must have evolved over the past years. The Headroom website does not show the specs of the DAC-section. So for the price - the uDAC-2 being 30 USD cheaper for me that is a nobrainer.

Whether it suits your musical tastes would be a matter of how you like it. I can say that the uDAC-2 is not the very most bass-heavy amplifier I have heard. So if that is what you are looking for you can always do some EQ-ing to make it like you want it. The Amplifier itself is close to neutral and does not add much to the music, it just plays what is in the file with detail and intimacy - IMHO

Quote:

Originally Posted by comfortablyhigh

"I bought the $99 NuForce uDac for work and I'm sending it back. I'm using Grado SR-325i headphones and although I hear some little tonal differences, on my computer at work the NuForce does not give me any more detail or soundstage or give any more "life" to the music than I can get through the headphone output directly rather than through the DAC".

Is the DAC in uDac better than the one in Total Bithead?

The one for 129 USD is the uDac 2 right?

Also, I was wondering if the NuForce is right for my genre, metal. I have been assured the grado 325is are one of the best for metal.

The ibassoD2 is slightly over my budget. I am looking for something around $200. But if you say that it is definitely worth it, and magical at that, I guess I can try pushin my budget!!!

I dont exactly need it to be portable, portability is the last of my priorities. Something under arnd $200, goes with 325is for metal is what I need. What DAC would you suggest with the Little Dot MK II?

All that I know about headphones and amps is what I have been researching for the past month or so to buy mine!